APPIANO GENTILE – During his media conference the day before Inter v Parma, Walter Mazzarri was asked whether he'd heard from president Erick Thohir after the midweek Coppa Italia match. The coach replied: "He was pleased that I'd fielded some of our younger players in the cup. He was happy about that."
Inevitably there were also some questions about the transfer market, both on Ezequiel Lavezzi and strikers in general. "You know full well that I don't talk about transfers," Mazzarri smiled.
"Lavezzi? A while back we exchanged a couple of texts because we've always been on very good terms. After three years working together he was sold to a big European club, he's a smashing lad and I have an excellent relationship with him.
"Do we need to bring anyone in up front? We have three huge games between now and Christmas, then after that we'll look at how we're set. We've done a lot of things since the summer, making different choices. For a start we needed to assess the squad at our disposal. It's about striking a balance between the club's short-term targets and the future. We could stay as we are for this year, but it depends on what the club hopes to achieve come the end of the season. We could even give playing time to Bonazzoli, who has bundles of talent for a 16-year-old. It depends what we're aiming for at the end of the year. I don't want to discuss any details about transfer business, this is just rational discourse. In any case, it's not January yet."
A journalist then enquired if it was true that the coach had a go at the players - the younger ones in particular - after the Sampdoria match. "Anyone can make mistakes. That goes for Zanetti and Cambiasso as it does for Mudingayi, Campagnaro, Kovacic and all the others. This thing about being young or old and getting used to playing in certain situations, it all comes down to mentality. Sampdoria came here with no fear to play an open game. When you're Inter and you draw you get criticised. It's important to have talented youngsters but that's not enough in itself. You need to develop the right character to be able to approach games with a big-club mentality. That takes time. Even at massive clubs you sometimes have to start over from scratch. I'm trying to give my players that mentality, get them to understand that they're at Inter and at Inter you have to win every game."
